Fuego Burger is closing one of its locations. It’s the latest chapter in a long saga

Best Burger in DFW? Secrets of the Fuego Burger

Carlos Rodriguez owner/chef of Salsa Fuego shows how to make his signature Fuego Burger, with fire-roasted green chiles. The burger advanced to the finalis of the 2015 DFW.com Burger Battle (Star-Telegram/Rodger Mallison)

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Carlos Rodriguez owner/chef of Salsa Fuego shows how to make his signature Fuego Burger, with fire-roasted green chiles. The burger advanced to the finalis of the 2015 DFW.com Burger Battle (Star-Telegram/Rodger Mallison)

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Updated below.

The Fuego Burger saga continues.

Fuego Burger, which opened as 5ive Spice Kitchen in the back of a Rendon convenience store in late 2015, announced Wednesday on Facebook that it is closing its Rendon location.

“We are very saddened with having to close our Rendon location,” says a message on the Fuego Burger Facebook page. “We were hoping that the landlord would work with us, but no luck.” According to the post, a “for rent” sign is already on the door.

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UPDATE: On Sept. 8, Fuego Burger posted a video on Facebook of a roof leak so bad that you can see raindrops in puddles inside the restaurant. The owners had to close temporarily. “Sorry Fuego fans,” the post says. “We will be shut down for awhile. Due to the excessive rain that we are having. We will keep you updated for the latest news.”

Co-owner Christie Rodriguez sent a note via Facebook on Wednesday evening saying that the Rendon store closed because the landlord refused to fix the leak.

Fuego Burger gets its name from its signature item, a green-chile cheeseburger with a fried cheese ring orbiting as it were a planet, and sometimes it seems as big as one. It was one of the items at Salsa Fuego, an acclaimed west Fort Worth Mexican restaurant that closed in October 2015.

Salsa Fuego’s closure came after months of rumors: Even though it was not technically a burger joint, we made room for it in our 2015 Battle of the Burgers bracket, previously reserved for burger-specific joints (we made room for a couple of other non-burger joints with extensive burger menus as well).

During the 2015 battle, which took place in August and September, readers reported unexpected closures of the restaurant that lasted a few days. Chef-owner Carlos Rodriguez told the Star-Telegram at the time that the closures were due to a family emergency. The restaurant came close to forfeiting in the Burger Battle, but it was always open when the judges made their visits. It made it all the way to the final two before being toppled by the champ, Dutch’s Legendary Hamburgers.

A little more than a month Salsa Fuego’s October 2015 closure, the much smaller, more burger-centric 5ive Spice Kitchen opened in the back of a Rendon convenience store. It was months before a Facebook post noted that Rodriguez and his wife Christie were the ones running the place and that the Fuego Burger was there. It soon changed its name to Fuego Burger.

When we say “much smaller,” we mean it: There were only a few tables, and you had to get your drinks in the adjacent convenience store. Tacos and other items were also on the menu, but the focus was burgers.

The Rendon location competed in our 2017 Burger Battle and once again was runner-up, this time to Fred’s Texas Cafe in Fort Worth, the only two-time winner of the Burger Battle.